EF1 tornado, Elwood to Bassville, Missouri, April 29, 2025

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

EF1

Date

April 29, 2025

Touchdown

9:24 AM CDT (14:24 UTC)

Lifted

9:25 AM CDT (14:25 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

1.6 miles (2.5 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$120,000

County

Greene County

Touchdown point

37.210, -93.480

Lift-off point

37.220, -93.450

Record number

2504290824-01

28 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS SGF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

• Trees down east and southeast
• Roof blown east along with uprooted trees. Service station canopy across street suffered uplift damage too.
• Carport blown east. Mud splatter on west, south and east side of home
• Trees laying southeast, east and northeast

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A cluster of severe thunderstorms moved through southwest Missouri on the morning of April 29th, 2025. Widespread wind damage and several tornadoes occurred. Significant wind damage with over 50,000 power outages occurred in Springfield alone. Numerous trees, powerlines and structures sustained damage from this system. A 90 mph wind gust was measured at the Springfield Branson National Airport.

A National Weather Service storm survey determined that a brief EF-1 tornado occurred approximately 3 miles southwest of Elwood around 9:24 AM. It progressed northeast for a little over a minute before dissipating to strong straight-line winds at 9:25 AM approximately 1.5 miles southwest of Elwood. The tornado had a path length of 1.55 miles, a width of 50 yards, and estimated maximum wind speeds of 90 mph. Many trees were uprooted in different directions, with some trees falling on a residence. It also damaged the roof of a barn and outbuilding.

A National Weather Service storm survey determined that an EF-0 tornado touched down west of Fair Grove around 9:40 AM and lifted around 10:10 east of Bassville, MO. Many trees were uprooted or split and many large limbs broken. A small residence and farm outbuilding sustained minor damage. Damage was limited along the western portion of the track and was observed to increase along and east of Farm Roads 181 and 48. Before diminishing again as it approached Highway 65, with greater tree damage again viewed east of the Highway before the path ended east of Bassville.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

11 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 14:13 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 12:16 UTC and running to 15:00 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:37 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Springfield (SGF), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 6 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:21 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2025 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.